Merging my passion for organizational development with my Master’s of Architecture, I integrate workplace design and culture as a competitive talent strategy. Most days, you can find me collaborating with smart, visionary leaders or speaking nationally about the role of design at America’s best workplaces. For more information, email me at commentarmstrong@gmail.com.

Open Workspaces Are Here to Stay. Now, How Do We Get Any Work Done?

Shhhh … Don’t tell anyone, but as I write this post, I’m “hiding” in a remote conference room in our design firm’s open workspace.

Seriously, it’s moments like this—when I pine for privacy to think and write—that make me question the value of open-plan workplace design. Now, don’t get me wrong; an extrovert by nature, I enjoy the engagement in an open work environment. When I really need to think, however, I have to retreat to a quiet, private space. Only then can I actually contemplate and create.

As a specialist in integrating workplace design and culture, I’m routinely asked by clients to create an environment that can both increase productivity and promote collaboration and innovation. This is a tall order.

Open-plan design may inspire collaboration but it can also impede productivity. According to a recent New York Times article, noise is a serious problem in the open-plan office, and speech, because it is directly understood in the brain’s working memory, is the most disturbing type of sound. Likewise, when a conversation carries to an “unwilling listener,” his or her performance measurably declines in cognitive tasks such as reading, writing, and other forms of creative work.

In spite of this, market demands have all the major office furniture manufacturers, such as Knoll, feverishly rolling out solutions for creating a “collaborative workplace.” (And this is not to overlook how a weak economic recovery has every company also seeking to save space and money.) Among the countless different solutions are benching (think long dining tables with workers sitting across from one another) and smaller, panel-less cubicles.

So as workers forego their privacy, audibly and visibly, how can they get any work done, let alone increase their productivity? Moreover, how can introverts—those who by nature are energized by solitude—really produce in open workspaces?

At TED2012, author and self-identified introvert Susan Cain gave a passionate talk aiding the argument that today’s office design must still support contemplation and individual work. Cain acknowledged the value of serendipitous interactions that occur in workplace cafés and the like. Yet, since introverts comprise up to a half of society, she also contended that the workplace must consider their unique needs.

Even as an extrovert, I understand Cain’s point of view. Still, the privacy I require to write this post, for instance, runs counter to my clients’ cries for designing collaboration-driven workplaces. How can two opposing ideas—the need for collaboration and the need for privacy—be realized in a single design solution? One word: choice. Additionally, choice can be demonstrated in both the physical and cultural aspects of an organization’s work environment.

Having ample space for contemplation, collaboration, and casual collisions presents workers with critical choices. In other words, the physical workplace that offers many diverse settings for a variety of work needs is one answer.

At our company, an architecture and design enterprise, teamwork is tantamount to optimal performance. Accordingly, at our headquarters office in Milwaukee, we provide one private meeting space for every eight staff members. Additionally, we have several open spaces where more casual collaborations can occur, including a café, kitchen, and library, as well as wide corridors with alcoves. Many of the private spaces can be reserved, whether for group or individual work, while others are left open for immediate access. This combination of spaces provides plenty of opportunities for our numerous introverts (along with “situational introverts” such as myself) to retreat from noise and other distractions.

An organization’s cultural environment can also help meet workers’ individual needs for privacy. A culture that allows or even encourages employees to work off site when needed is one such example. Moreover, new technologies, such as video or Web conferencing, can support workers who want to work with more privacy off site yet still be accessible to others. A culture built on trust between leadership and employees is also important.

According to the 2012 State of the Industry Report by CoreNet Global, a corporate real estate association, the continuing demand for the workplace is to serve as a central place for collaboration. Similarly, The Smart Workplace in 2030, a report by global manufacturer Johnson Controls, predicts that the permanent physical location of work will be “The Hive,” a more agile workplace that responds to “a complex and competitive world focused on collaboration, innovation, and creativity.”

As long as leaders pay attention to workers’ diverse needs for collaboration and privacy, the future of workplace design looks bright. And now that my work here is done, I can relinquish the privacy of this conference room … and reconnect with my colleagues in our open workspace.

Barbara T. Armstrong is a nationally recognized designer specializing in strategically integrating workplace design and culture as a competitive talent strategy. She is a former principal at Kahler Slater, a global architecture and design enterprise.

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Barbara, Thanks for the insightful article about open versus closed workplace design. I can’t agree enough about the how in open office workspace the resulting lively acoustics and visual distractions challenge the concept these spaces are truly effective for the collaboration and also focused work. In our time of shrinking corporate real estate footprints every available square foot must be leveraged to facilitate individual worker, group and ultimately overall business performance. Like you allude to, today’s work spaces must contain a continuum of open to closed more private spaces. Today’s business leaders in the C-suite and Real Estate / Facilities would be wise to take a look at their work spaces to see if there’s truly a good balance. If not, it would be wise to look at adjusting their design and layout to better reflect the needs of their teams and times. Having a range of sizes of quiet “away” spaces for high focus work, long phone or video calls with faraway collaborators with ample white board surfaces is really important. These spaces, whether for 1 to 2 people, 3 to 6, to larger team size spaces work well together with nearby open collaborative spirited workstation areas, cafes, lounges, in between spaces. Barabara, the “situational introvert” moment writing this piece you found yourself in is a common experience we all share. There are times we need to be out in the open collaborating with our team mates and there are times we need to find a quiet away space to get specific task done quickly. Leaders who recognize there are various kinds of work style choices or strategies available to workers and support their teams with the right balance of work spaces and resources will foster a success oriented, collaborative environment. Thanks for focusing on design empowering business success! It’s an all too often neglected yet vital foundation of good business.

Barbara, I can’t agree enough about how in open office workspace the resulting lively acoustics and visual distractions challenge the concept these spaces are truly effective for the collaboration and also focused work.

In our time of shrinking corporate real estate footprints every available square foot must be leveraged to facilitate individual worker, group and ultimately overall business performance. Like you allude to, today’s work spaces must contain a continuum of open to closed more private spaces.

Today’s business leaders in the C-suite and Real Estate / Facilities would be wise to take a look at their work spaces to see if there’s truly a good balance. If not, it would be wise to look at adjusting their design and layout to better reflect the needs of their teams and times.

Having a range of sizes of quiet “away” spaces for high focus work, long phone or video calls with faraway collaborators with ample white board surfaces is really important. These spaces, whether for 1 to 2 people, 3 to 6, to larger team size spaces work well together with nearby open collaborative spirited workstation areas, cafes, lounges, in between spaces.

Barabara, the “situational introvert” moment writing this piece you found yourself in is a common experience we all share. There are times we need to be out in the open collaborating with our team mates and there are times we need to find a quiet away space to get specific task done quickly. Leaders who recognize there are various kinds of work style choices or strategies available to workers and support their teams with the right balance of work spaces and resources will foster a success oriented, collaborative environment.

Thanks for focusing on design empowering business success! It’s an all too often neglected yet vital foundation of good business.

Barbara, I can’t agree enough about how in open office workspace the resulting lively acoustics and visual distractions challenge the concept these spaces are truly effective for the collaboration and also focused work.

In our time of shrinking corporate real estate footprints every available square foot must be leveraged to facilitate individual worker, group and ultimately overall business performance. Like you allude to, today’s work spaces must contain a continuum of open to closed more private spaces.

Today’s business leaders in the C-suite and Real Estate / Facilities would be wise to take a look at their work spaces to see if there’s truly a good balance. If not, it would be wise to look at adjusting their design and layout to better reflect the needs of their teams and times.

Having a range of sizes of quiet “away” spaces for high focus work, long phone or video calls with faraway collaborators with ample white board surfaces is really important. These spaces, whether for 1 to 2 people, 3 to 6, to larger team size spaces work well together with nearby open collaborative spirited workstation areas, cafes, lounges, in between spaces.

Barabara, the “situational introvert” moment writing this piece you found yourself in is a common experience we all share. There are times we need to be out in the open collaborating with our team mates and there are times we need to find a quiet away space to get specific task done quickly. Leaders who recognize there are various kinds of work style choices or strategies available to their workers and support their teams with the right balance of work spaces and resources will foster a success oriented, collaborative environment.

Barbara, thanks for focusing on design empowering business success! It’s an all too often neglected yet vital foundation of good business. Keep up the insightful, real world based writing.

Stephen – Glad you recognize the interesting dilemma that is faced by RE/Facilities- shrink footprint to save costs while still providing a balance and variety of spaces to accommodate the many work styles that need to be accommodated in today’s work environments. Do you have good examples of places you have seen that have gotten the balance right?

Of course personal preferences weigh heavily, but these two simple equipment choices reduce the visual and audio interference created by shared spaces.

The best open workspaces I’ve seen also have basic rules of etiquette for going into the hallway, or grabbing a conference room, after an informal discussion has gone on in a shared space for more than a few minutes.

All 3 of these points are just a sampling of how the individual and group behavior of the people sharing the space matter: it’s not just the layout or architectural philosophy that defines the outcome.

people should have the option to work in an open “collaborative” work space when they want to or need to in order to get the job done. They should be able to retreat to a private desk or space when needed. this article hits the nail on the head: http://cmfsupplies.com/officeiq/spotlight-on-collaborative-workspaces/